Senator Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) today announced that she received an “A” grade from the nonpartisan Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA), one of the state’s top watchdogs on tax and public finance issues, in its 2016 Legislative Report Card. HJTA tracked nearly two dozen bills this year.

“With taxpayers facing never-ending requests from spending interests for more of their hard-earned money, I’m pleased that my work to stand up for fiscal responsibility has been recognized by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association,” said Bates. “It was a pleasure to work with them this year on my legislation to address an outdated tax interpretation and I look forward to continuing to work with them on issues important to taxpayers.”

On tax issues, Bates has focused her efforts on stopping legislation that would create a “split-roll” and separate commercial and industrial property from Proposition 13, which would lead to massive tax increases for California’s job creators. To address an outdated interpretation of property “change of ownership” that has been used by Proposition 13’s critics to justify a “split-roll,” Bates authored Senate Bill 259 earlier this year. SB 259 had HJTA’s support and would have ensured that Proposition 13’s tax protections were not abused, but the Senate Appropriations Committee blocked the bill from moving forward.

Proposition 13 restricts annual increases of assessed value of real property to an inflation factor, not to exceed two percent per year. Proposition 13 also requires a two-thirds majority in the State Senate and Assembly for state tax increases.